Photo: proimos on Flickr using Creative Commons
Every day there are new reports about the benefits of vegetables; for our health, the environment, and for animal well-being. Today’s story suggests that a high vegetable intake may be the only choice in the future: The guardian reports one group of water scientist’s findings that suggest the world’s water supply cannot sustain large-scale animal farming:
“There will be just enough water if the proportion of animal-based foods is limited to 5% of total calories and considerable regional water deficits can be met by a … reliable system of food trade.”
According to the report, presently humans consume about 20% of their protein from animal-based foods.
So what does it take to consume vegetables in lieu of animal-products?
The hardest part is stopping meat-consumption, cold…turkey.
Graham Hill’s talk: Why I’m a Weekend Vegetarian is a good place to start if one is interested in reducing meat intake:
His talk is among the 11 TED talks on the transformative power of vegetables on the TED Blog. From the process of turning public spaces in a small town in England into gardens, to the benefits of converting the technically-fungi-but-might-as-well-be-a-vegetable mushrooms, into plastic; the talks provide innovative insights into the benefits of vegetables.
In Saskatoon, vegetable access is changing rapidly with the proliferation of community gardens, the Farmer’s Markets at River Landing, and Community Farmer’s Market of Saskatoon. There are currently 24 community gardens in Saskatoon – you can find out where they are here, a listing maintained by Chep Good Food Inc..
Though we are still crunching the numbers regarding the overall healthy food access of Saskatoon residents, it is clear that distribution of supermarkets is disproportionality poor in the core neighborhoods.
